A general elections were held in Nicaragua to elect a president and parliament on September 1, 1974. “The 1974 election was characterized by abstentionism. There were no incidents on election day; in fact very few people went to the polls, this in spite of the fact that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal reported voter registration of 1,152,268 citizens or 60.8% of the total Nicaraguan population, which is nearly 240,000 more than the number of citizens 18 years and older reported by the Census of 1971. The official results listed 733,662 votes for Somoza and 66,320 for the leader of one faction of the Conservative Party who ran against Somoza. The total percentage of votes cast according to official figures was approximately 69%”.